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First and foremost, I encourage you to learn about this fellow as your potential future president, and skip my bio if that's what it takes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_Anderson
My family and I lived off the grid in an earth-sheltered, solar powered underground house, for 15 years, starting in the early '80s, proving, at least to myself, the feasibility of solar power. Such a feat should be much easier with off-the-shelf materials available now.
I wrote a book on earth-sheltered solar greenhouses that has many good ideas, but should be condensed from 400 down to 50 pages, with new info from living off the grid. It's on my "to do" list.
I am 63 with a 21 year old heart--literally, as it was transplanted in 2005 (a virus, they think). This is why I strongly encourage you and everyone else to be an organ donor.
I may be the only tenured teacher you'll meet who got fired with a perfect teaching record. I spent seven years in court fighting that, only to find out that little guys always lose (http://www.opednews.com/articles/Letter-to-NEA-Leadership--by-Daniel-Geery-101027-833.html; recommended reading if you happen to be a parent, teacher, or concerned citizen).
I managed to get another teaching job, working in a multi-cultural elementary school for ten years (we had well over 20 native tongues when I left, proving to me that we don't need war to get along--no one even got killed there!).
I spent a few thousand hours working on upward-gliding airships, after reading The Deltoid Pumpkin Seed by John McPhee. But I did my modelling in the water, so it took only two years and 5,000 models to get a shape that worked. You can Google "aquaglider" to learn more about these. As far as I know, this invention represents the first alteration of Archimedes'principle, spelled out 2,500 years ago.
"Airside," the water toys evolved into more of a cigar shape, as this was easier to engineer. Also, solar panels now come as thin as half a manila folder, making it possible for airships to be solar powered. You can see one of the four I made in action by Googling "hyperblimp"(along with many related, advanced versions).
Along with others, I was recently honored to receive a Charles Lindbergh Foundation Award, to use these airships to study right whales off Argentina. Now we just have to make it happen!
More on that in a podcast, should you be so inclined:
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/upr/local-upr-936106.mp3 (followed by Rosalie Winard, bird photographer and friend of Terry Tempest Williams, and a bit on why you should be an organ donor).
I recently married a beautiful woman who is an excellent writer and editor, in addition to being a gourmet cook, gardener, kind, gentle, warm, funny, spiritual, and extremely loving. We met via "Plenty-of-Fish" and a number of seemingly cosmic connections.
I get blitzed reading the news damn near every day, and wonder why I do it, especially when it's the same old shit recycled, just more of it. In spite of Barbara Ehrenreich and reality, I'm a sucker for positive thinking; I recently finished reading Positivity, by Barbara Fredrickson, and recommend it, in the interest of your own sanity.
I like OpEd and think Rob Kall has done some wonderful things, but if someone could help out with the graphics and kinks in the system here, I'd really appreciate it.
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 A New Scam Targeting Men! (3 comments)
Women often receive warnings about protecting themselves at the mall and in dark parking lots, etc. This is the first warning I have seen for men. I wanted to pass it on in case you haven't heard about it.
Saturday, February 4, 2012 Your Future and the Justice Party (3 comments)
This is a highly summarized version of the interview that Rob Kall did with Rocky Anderson, Presidential Candidate via the newly-formed Justice Party, about two weeks ago. If you missed that, or couldn't get to it all, I recommend this summary.
Saturday, January 14, 2012 A New America: Rocky Anderson's Vision and Acceptance Speech (16 comments)
Former Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson accepted the presidential nomination of the Justice Party. He stressed the urgency of ending corruption in America , and getting us back to the principles our country is supposed to be about.
Friday, December 30, 2011 Amy Goodman, Rocky Anderson: On AlJazeera (3 comments)
Rocky Anderson et. al. talking of the influence of money in politics, embedded journalists, and how no third party can make it via mainstream media. Video worth watching for anyone interested in changing the system.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 Equators in our Minds (4 comments)
I'd be surprised if any reader did not learn, nd readily accept and still remember that. "the equator is an imaginary line around the earth." We likewise know that north is "up," south is "down," Australia and New Zealand are places "down under," meaning they are "down under the equator," on the bottom half of the planet. I believe it is time to seriously consider the grander implications of these quaint notions.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011 OWS and the U.S. Constitution
I have never been able to get overly excited about the U.S. Constitution, for the simple reason that it was ratified 169 years before I was even born, and things change over time, in this case dramatically. I sincerely hope that OWS continues gathering support, momentum, and strength, and that its ideas spread far and wide, growing tall and stout as redwoods in the fertile manure so generously provided by the elite few.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011 Salt Lake Police BS & Brutality (4 comments)
November 11, Salt Lake City: A man was found dead in Pioneer Park . Police Chief Chris Burbank said he could not permit any more camping there or anywhere in Salt Lake . "We as a city just cannot tolerate this going on," he said. Chris asked members of the OSL to pack up and be on their way by the weekend.
Thursday, November 10, 2011 Hooray, a Financial Firm Fails!
The following is from a November 5 Wall Street Journal opinion article, typical of any I've bothered to read in the past few years. The title is theirs. The bolded italic comments are mine; I was responding to a Republican friend who sent me the article.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011 Deep, Sinister Roots Of The 1%ers (15 comments)
The book I've been meaning to read for a decade or so has finally made it to my night stand. I am only on page 63, of 662 pages of text, and my worldview has been radically altered to match reality. Thought others might be interested in this paragraph from A People's History of the United States, 1492 -- Present, by Howard Zinn, 20th Edition, 1999, Harper Collins Press.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011 Salt Lake City Sues Its Residents (1 comments)
Government at its finest! Salt Lake City sues its own residents, makes backdoor deals, works to destroy major riparian area. (Article written by Jeff Salt of the Jordan River Restoration Project, slightly modified by DG.)
Sunday, October 30, 2011 O Slut! (2 comments)
Occupy Salt Lake City, Utah (aka SLUT). I went to our main library yesterday with my grandson and found these folks meditating. A few blocks away, Pioneer Park, I stopped where the overnighters are camped out (one beauty of Salt Lake is that everyone has camping gear).
Monday, October 24, 2011 Occupy Your Lawn (7 comments)
Here's a quick way to lend a hand to OWS, spread the word, and go down on the right side of history.
Friday, September 9, 2011 Our (blood-splattered) Shining Light on the Hill (7 comments)
George Bush killed children in your name, with your taxes. Orrin Hatch and countless other "leaders" we voted for supported this (Orrin claimed he was privy to evidence of Iraq's WMDs, but couldn't reveal the sources--he has yet to do so, and it will be his epitaph that he doesn't).
Sunday, June 12, 2011 Archimedes' Work Results in Educational Pool Toy; Takes Flight, Too! (22 comments)
They say he cried, "Eureka!," leaped with glee from his bathtub, and took to the streets in the buff, still shouting. Archimedes lived from about 287 BC to 212 BC, was a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer. His ideas live on, now slightly modified.
Friday, May 20, 2011 We Missed The Rapture! Jesus Already Gone
I often think everything that needs saying these days has already been said, just not listened to. If you already read this one, please forgive me; I posted it here some time ago, with the title, "Has Jesus Come and Gone?" As I see it, he most definitely has.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011 The Foundation of Religion Fractured, shaky, and exposed (25 comments)
Note from submitter, Daniel Geery: This article was written by a friend of mine, Deana Jensen, who died last year in her early nineties. She wrote the piece in her early seventies and self-published it as a pamphlet, titled "Godwho: Why I am Not a Mormon."
Thursday, May 5, 2011 What Children Think of War (7 comments)
Some excerpts from my "Unanswered Letter to Osama." These relatively unedited quotes were taken from a sixth grade class, in a poverty stricken school; I always worked hard as a teacher not to press my own views on students, but to help them learn and discuss facts.
Saturday, April 23, 2011 Applying Elementary Teaching Principles to World Behavior: Fairness (2 comments)
I recently posted an article titled, "Applying Elementary Teaching Principles to World Behavior." I claimed I would follow up with articles on the principles outlined therein, elaborating on the application them to world behavior.
Saturday, April 16, 2011 Applying Elementary Teaching Principles to World Behavior, Part 1 (5 comments)
I was recently challenged to show how teaching principles might be applied to world behavior. I herein begin to rise to the challenge, listing some principles that I believe should apply. Future articles will elaborate, but to start I lay out basic principles which lead to successful teaching with kids.
Sunday, March 20, 2011 Living on Sunshine, Underground & Off the Grid (2 comments)
This video was done for my third graders about twenty years ago. But it does a decent job showing the home I built (sans power tools, save for a chain saw) and that my family and I lived in for 15 years, circa 1980-1995.
Friday, March 18, 2011 Living on Sunshine, Underground & Off the Grid. (5 comments)
This video was done for my third graders about twenty years ago. But it does a decent job showing the home I built (sans power tools, save for a chain saw) and that my family and I lived in for 15 years, circa 1980-1995.
Monday, March 14, 2011 Nuclear Power: Let a Man of Wisdom be Heard
This is from my earlier article, "Has Jesus Come and Gone?" I think it reasonable to repost this part of the article. The late David Brower was the most intelligent and wise person I ever met:
Friday, October 29, 2010 Letter to NEA Leadership & Attorney Michael Simpson (1 comments)
Why teachers are wasting time and money on the NEA, with supporting evidence. Also, why the NEA needs to change its priorities to this: 1) Put children first; 2) go directly to court when jokers get in the way; 3) seriously educate the public.
Saturday, April 10, 2010 Are We Accountable? (2 comments)
Some thoughts on "accountability in education," from a former elementary teacher.
In a comment I made suggesting that George Lakoff be framed with a toilet seat, I offered a few alternatives to "framing." Rob Kall tossed out five challenges in reply, that I said I'd try to address.
Saturday, April 5, 2008 If You Had a Divine Purpose, How Would You Know? (3 comments)
Do you believe in divine purpose? With my background in science and a deep skepticism forged in a strict religious background, I have my doubts. Yet who can deny that the universe seems to speak to us when we listen? My friend Christine Crawford speaks in more traditional terms than I, but I encourage you to hear her out...
Wednesday, February 27, 2008 The Starving Society (13 comments)
And how it is brought to you by those opposing taxation and redistribution.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007 Save a Soul: Nip a Gay in the Bud! (54 comments)
"Yesterday in the bathroom (in front of the mirror), I wiggled my body very rapidly, making my genitals bounce up and down. I get a little bit of that feeling mentioned above as I write this. After I did this, I immediately asked forgiveness of God, went in the shower but did it again there."
Sunday, July 29, 2007 Bulldozing the Garden (3 comments)
We are living in a madhouse of our own creation, a full-blown insane asylum, a loony bin of global proportions. We are ravishing the earth, sucking its resources dry, destroying the very support systems that all life on the planet depends on. What can be done to stop bulldozing the Garden of Earth?
Thursday, June 28, 2007 Why Not Assassinate? (81 comments)
I asked this question in a comment recently and got a pretty good spanking. Which made me think all the harder about the question. Here are my answers, along with some from other OpEd readers.
Saturday, April 7, 2007 Everything You Need to Know About God* (1 comments)
A comment on Peter Michaelson's "Psychological Expose' of Creationism's Secret Genesis," which evolved into an article of its own.
Friday, February 9, 2007 On Winning Hearts and Minds (1 comments)
How to do what Bush yaks about: win hearts and minds.
Wednesday, February 7, 2007 Global Warming: The Cold, Hard Facts? (11 comments)
I found this scientific gem online yesterday, and felt strongly that it should be shared with the world. I was so excited about it, I could not help but add a few comments of my own.
Tuesday, February 6, 2007 Eh? Ran what? Part 2 (3 comments)
Further reflections on "Thou Shalt Not Kill." May you draw your own conclusion...
Monday, February 5, 2007 Eh? Ran what? (19 comments)
Who do you support? Conscientious objectors or those who would kill their fellow humans?
Tuesday, January 16, 2007 How to Recognize a Particularly Insane Individual
Today's lesson is about how to recognize one particularly insane individual. I feel the need to write this because there are still a number of people who have not recognized that this individual is insane-and by that word, I mean wholly detached from the world around him, and thus exceedingly dangerous given the power at his disposal.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007 Is George Bush Insane?
Today's lesson is about how to recognize one particularly insane individual. I feel the need to write this because there are still a number of people who have not recognized that this individual is insane-and by that word, I mean wholly detached from the world around him, and thus exceedingly dangerous given the power at his disposal.
Friday, January 12, 2007 How to Recognize a Human Scumbag (10 comments)
Today's lesson is about how to recognize a human scumbag.
Friday, January 5, 2007 My New Year's Wish: Let 2 + 2 = 4
Rob Kall asked that we articulate some of our positive visions for the future. Here are a few of mine, but feel free to add your own.
Sunday, December 10, 2006 To collapse or to continue? (3 comments)
No more helium-- a sign of global warming? Do we have the brains and the will to avert the disasters coming our way? A harbinger of events to come bears a message.
Monday, November 20, 2006 Open Letter to Howard Dean and the DNC (4 comments)
Your Democratic Vision for America could use some flesh on its bones, Howard.
Tuesday, July 18, 2006 Alternatives to Extinction*: Learning Together
Is it possible for twelve year olds from around the world to learn in the same classroom? If so, might they continue doing so, rather than becoming soldiers or suicide bombers for power brokers?
Tuesday, June 6, 2006 The DNA Frame (1 comments)
Continuation of the DNA of the human species is our most pressing problem. The issue of human extinction is a real one, and yet one that is generally ignored or shoved aside.
Wednesday, April 26, 2006 Response to Osama bin Laden (3 comments)
Osama bin Laden addressed the American people on several occasions. As far as I know, no one's taken the time to write him back.
